Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective

Nanoplastics (NPs), which we define in this paper as solid plastic particles with the size <1 μm, unintentionally produced from the degradation and fragmentation of larger plastic objects are probably the least known area of plastic litter but are suspected to pose the greatest risk to the enviro...

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Autores principales: Ignacy Jakubowicz, Jonas Enebro, Nazdaneh Yarahmadi
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/31f56394a2fa49d6a51327515db9d1ff
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:31f56394a2fa49d6a51327515db9d1ff2021-11-24T04:24:52ZChallenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective0142-941810.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106953https://doaj.org/article/31f56394a2fa49d6a51327515db9d1ff2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941820321826https://doaj.org/toc/0142-9418Nanoplastics (NPs), which we define in this paper as solid plastic particles with the size <1 μm, unintentionally produced from the degradation and fragmentation of larger plastic objects are probably the least known area of plastic litter but are suspected to pose the greatest risk to the environment. However, no NPs have been detected in natural environments to date. This review attempts to provide a critical overview from the polymer science perspective of the relevant scientific literature, which could facilitate finding secondary NPs in natural environments. The information on secondary NPs has been scarce due to the big challenges in sampling, separation, and detection of these nanoscale particles. This review highlights the most important challenges and obstacles and discusses the mechanisms of generation of secondary NPs. It provides also a critical overview on modern instrumentation, newly developed workflows, promising techniques for sampling and sample preparation, and detection methods including spectroscopies (Raman and FT-IR), microscopies (SEM and TEM) and mass spectrometry (GC–MS and ToF–SIMS). We conclude that finding NPs in natural environments is plausible yet uncertain, which drives towards the development of a methodology for collection, separation and identification of NPs in environmental matrices along with a thorough evaluation of the process of formation of secondary NPs, their fate and effects on living organisms and the environment.To find nanoplastics in natural environments it is important to know the process of their formation, their fate, and experimental constraints.Ignacy JakubowiczJonas EnebroNazdaneh YarahmadiElsevierarticleNanoplasticsSamplingDetectionEnvironmental degradationAnalytical methodsPolymers and polymer manufactureTP1080-1185ENPolymer Testing, Vol 93, Iss , Pp 106953- (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Nanoplastics
Sampling
Detection
Environmental degradation
Analytical methods
Polymers and polymer manufacture
TP1080-1185
spellingShingle Nanoplastics
Sampling
Detection
Environmental degradation
Analytical methods
Polymers and polymer manufacture
TP1080-1185
Ignacy Jakubowicz
Jonas Enebro
Nazdaneh Yarahmadi
Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
description Nanoplastics (NPs), which we define in this paper as solid plastic particles with the size <1 μm, unintentionally produced from the degradation and fragmentation of larger plastic objects are probably the least known area of plastic litter but are suspected to pose the greatest risk to the environment. However, no NPs have been detected in natural environments to date. This review attempts to provide a critical overview from the polymer science perspective of the relevant scientific literature, which could facilitate finding secondary NPs in natural environments. The information on secondary NPs has been scarce due to the big challenges in sampling, separation, and detection of these nanoscale particles. This review highlights the most important challenges and obstacles and discusses the mechanisms of generation of secondary NPs. It provides also a critical overview on modern instrumentation, newly developed workflows, promising techniques for sampling and sample preparation, and detection methods including spectroscopies (Raman and FT-IR), microscopies (SEM and TEM) and mass spectrometry (GC–MS and ToF–SIMS). We conclude that finding NPs in natural environments is plausible yet uncertain, which drives towards the development of a methodology for collection, separation and identification of NPs in environmental matrices along with a thorough evaluation of the process of formation of secondary NPs, their fate and effects on living organisms and the environment.To find nanoplastics in natural environments it is important to know the process of their formation, their fate, and experimental constraints.
format article
author Ignacy Jakubowicz
Jonas Enebro
Nazdaneh Yarahmadi
author_facet Ignacy Jakubowicz
Jonas Enebro
Nazdaneh Yarahmadi
author_sort Ignacy Jakubowicz
title Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
title_short Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
title_full Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
title_fullStr Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
title_full_unstemmed Challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—A critical review from the polymer science perspective
title_sort challenges in the search for nanoplastics in the environment—a critical review from the polymer science perspective
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/31f56394a2fa49d6a51327515db9d1ff
work_keys_str_mv AT ignacyjakubowicz challengesinthesearchfornanoplasticsintheenvironmentacriticalreviewfromthepolymerscienceperspective
AT jonasenebro challengesinthesearchfornanoplasticsintheenvironmentacriticalreviewfromthepolymerscienceperspective
AT nazdanehyarahmadi challengesinthesearchfornanoplasticsintheenvironmentacriticalreviewfromthepolymerscienceperspective
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